During the 2024–2025 admissions cycle, Northwestern University accepted only a sliver of the students who applied – 7.69%, landing firmly in the single-digit acceptance rate range. This number is often shocking to parents, who remember the ~40% acceptance rates in the 90s. But that top-line statistic doesn’t actually explain very much on its own, or how Northwestern became so competitive. While Northwestern does make some admissions information public, getting a meaningful understanding of what’s going on requires a more careful, layered analysis (and some math!). Thankfully, every year, we dig into the data to help our students see the bigger picture and approach the process with a clearer strategy and expectations.
Most U.S. colleges and universities fill out a standardized reporting document called the Common Data Set, or CDS. The CDS was created to provide organizations such as U.S. News & World Report, the College Board, and Peterson’s with reliable, apples-to-apples data for rankings and institutional profiles. It includes a wide range of sections, all of which are pretty interesting, but for our purposes, we’re going to focus on just one slice of Northwestern’s 2024–2025 CDS: first-time, first-year admissions.
Trend Spotting: Five Years of Northwestern Admissions
Before getting into the specifics of the most recent admissions cycle, it helps to step back and look at the bigger pattern taking shape at Northwestern. Like many top-tier universities, Northwestern has experienced steady growth in the number of students applying, while the percentage of applicants admitted has continued to shrink year after year – albeit at a slower pace than some of its peers.
| Year | Total Applicants | Number of Admitted Students | Acceptance Rate | ED Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 49,474 | 3,806 | 7.69% | 23.01% |
| 2024 | 51,767 | 3,739 | 7.22% | 22.55% |
| 2023 | 51,261 | 3,695 | 7.21% | 22.10% |
| 2022 | 47,636 | 3,321 | 6.97% | 24.31% |
| 2021 | 39,263 | 3,654 | 9.31% | 25.10% |
*Denotes our own calculation based on the raw numbers
Key Takeaways for Trend Data:
Northwestern dipped into the single-digit acceptance rates in the late 2010s, and we think that number will only get smaller
Northwestern going test-optional increased the number of applications post the 2020-2021 season
Your competition is fierce. To put yourself in a serious position, you have to stand out in a crowd full of driven, high-achieving students who look strong on paper. The starting point is clearing Northwestern’s academic threshold — because at this level, meeting the baseline isn’t what sets applicants apart.
C1: First-Time, First-Year Admission, Applications
Here’s the breakdown for first-time, first-year applicants during the 2024-2025 cycle:
| First-time, First-year Applicants | Total | Admitted | Acceptance Rate | Enrolled | Yield Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 23,774 | 1,735 | 7.30% | 977 | 56.30% |
| Women | 25,686 | 2,070 | 8.06% | 1,127 | 54.40% |
| Another Gender | 14 | 1 | 7% | 1 | 100% |
| Total | 49,474 | 3,806 | 7.69% | 2,105 | 55.30% |
*Denotes our own calculation based on the raw numbers
Key Takeaways for Acceptance Rates:
7.69% acceptance rate makes Northwestern a reach school for almost all students
Despite a single-digit acceptance rate, their yield is still relatively low
More women are interested in Northwestern than men, which some may find surprising based on the school’s culture
Northwestern is intensely competitive. You already know that – otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this post (which also means, like us, you’re an overachiever. Hello, peer!). Still, precision matters. You can’t make smart, strategic decisions without understanding just how selective Northwestern is or what the admitted student profile actually looks like.
Early Decision
Historically, applicants who apply ED at Northwestern have had higher admit rates than those in Regular Decision, though that advantage has narrowed as the early pool has grown more crowded. It’s easy to look at the higher percentage and assume ED is a shortcut. The truth is a bit more complicated:
| Number of ED applications | 5,154 |
|---|---|
| Number of ED acceptances | 1,186 |
| ED acceptance rate | 23.01% |
| Percent of admitted students accepted through ED | 31.16% |
*Denotes our own calculation based on the raw numbers
Why This Matters: Northwestern’s Early Decision acceptance rate remains noticeably higher than its overall rate. ED is never a guarantee, but for students who are already strong academic and contextual fits, applying ED can still provide a genuine strategic boost.
Each year, most schools see more students apply for roughly the same number of seats, which naturally lowers acceptance rates across the board. At Northwestern, that has certainly been the case in the macros, but this does seem to be slowing down in the last five years. Now, ED is sitting comfortably in the mid-to-low 20s. A meaningful portion of the class, about one-third, does come from the ED pool, but that doesn’t make ED the magic wand some students think it is.
Regular Decision
The Common Data Set doesn’t list Regular Decision acceptance rates outright, but we can approximate them by subtracting ED data from the overall totals. While these estimates may not be perfectly exact, they’re accurate enough to guide thoughtful planning:
| Number of RD applications | 44,320 |
|---|---|
| Number of RD acceptances | 2,620 |
| RD acceptance rate | 5.91% |
| Percent of admitted students accepted through RD | 68.84% |
*Denotes our own calculation based on the raw numbers
Why This Matters: Two-thirds of Northwestern’s incoming class is admitted through Regular Decision, but RD is significantly more selective than ED. If Northwestern is truly your top choice and your application is already competitive, Early Decision is often the most strategic path forward.
Waitlist
While plenty of universities keep their waitlist data opaque, Northwestern is slightly more transparent. At least they give us how many students got off the waitlist, but we are annoyed they don’t give us more. They simply tell us that 59 students got off the waitlist. 59 is fairly high for a school of Northwestern’s caliber.
When students see a waitlist decision, reactions tend to swing to extremes. Some immediately assume it’s a polite rejection, while others interpret it as a delayed yes. Neither is quite right. A waitlist means Northwestern sees you as someone who could thrive there; they just don’t have space at the moment. Seats open unpredictably and in limited quantities, but movement does happen. We help students navigate waitlists at Northwestern and other highly selective schools every single year.
C9-C2: First-Time, First-Year Profile, or Scores and Grades
Northwestern currently allows students to apply test-optional, but that shouldn’t be read as a signal that scores don’t matter. Across higher education, colleges are paying closer attention to how students perform after enrollment, and many have noticed that students admitted without test scores often struggle more once on campus. That trend has already pushed some schools back toward testing requirements. For now, Northwestern remains test-optional, but strong scores can still be a major asset.
Even in a test-optional context, the data speaks volumes. Looking at how many students choose to submit scores, and how competitive those scores are, offers a clear window into Northwestern’s academic expectations.
Breakdown of enrolled students who submitted test scores:
| Percent | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| Submitting SAT Scores | 46.00% | 963 |
| Submitting ACT Scores | 23.00% | 488 |
| Total Submitting Scores* | 69.00% | 1,451 |
*Denotes our own calculation based on the raw numbers
Why This Matters: Roughly 69% of enrolled students submitted standardized test scores, which is a notably high share compared to many of Northwestern’s elite, non-Ivy peers. More students reported SAT scores than ACT scores, but that doesn’t suggest Northwestern prefers one test over the other.
Now, let’s take a look at the score breakdowns for each section of the ACT and SAT:
| Test | 25th Percentile | 50th Percentile | 75th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT Composite | 1510 | 1540 | 1560 |
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading + Writing | 740 | 760 | 770 |
| SAT Math | 770 | 780 | 800 |
| ACT Composite | 34 | 34 | 35 |
| ACT Math | 32 | 34 | 35 |
| ACT English | 35 | 35 | 36 |
| ACT Science | 33 | 35 | 36 |
| ACT Reading | 34 | 35 | 36 |
Why This Matters: With middle-50% ranges around 1510–1560 on the SAT and 34–35 on the ACT, we generally recommend aiming for at least a 1550 or 35 to be competitive
First-time, first-year students with scores in each range:
| Score Range | SAT Evidence-Based Reading + Writing | SAT Math |
|---|---|---|
| 700-800 | 92% | 94% |
| 600-699 | 6% | 5% |
| 500-599 | 1% | 1% |
| Score Range | SAT Composite |
|---|---|
| 1400-1600 | 97% |
| 1200-1399 | 3% |
| 1000-1199 | 0% |
| Score Range | ACT Composite | ACT English | ACT Math | ACT Reading | ACT Science |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-36 | 97% | 96% | 93% | 97% | 95% |
| 24-29 | 3% | 3% | 7% | 3% | 5% |
| 18-23 | 0% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 1% |
Standardized Test Score Takeaways:
The median Northwestern enrollee posts roughly a 1540 SAT or 34 ACT — and that’s the middle of an already elite group
Because these figures reflect enrolled students (not all admitted students), many non-enrolling admits likely had even higher scores
Submitting below a 1400 SAT or 30 ACT meaningfully weakens your chances
A small percentage of students fall below those ranges, but you should not assume a sub-1200 SAT or sub-29 ACT gives you a realistic shot
To be a serious contender at Northwestern, your academic profile needs to be exceptionally strong. Scores in the mid-1500s or mid-30s already place you near the top nationally – yet even those numbers tend to sit toward the lower edge of Northwestern’s admitted range.
Before anyone spirals, let’s be very clear: the tiny fraction of admitted students with low-20s ACT scores are outliers. They are not evidence of flexible standards. Those data points are not an invitation to think, Okay, so I still have a chance. We have no insight into who those students are or what circumstances shaped their admissions outcomes. Some may be recruited athletes or legacies; others might be first-generation students, applicants from under-resourced schools, refugees, nationally recognized scholars or artists, or students with extraordinary life contexts. You cannot build a strategy around trying to become an exception.
TL;DR: If you want the strongest possible shot at Northwestern, aim for near-perfect grades and the highest scores you can reasonably achieve. That’s the baseline.
Considerations
One of the trickier parts of the Common Data Set is the section outlining a school’s admissions “considerations.” Yes, there are objective academic inputs – GPA, curriculum strength, standardized testing – that are relatively easy to identify. But layered on top of those are subjective elements that don’t come with a checklist and can’t be reverse-engineered. That ambiguity is exactly where smart strategy matters most. Let’s start with the academic side:
| Academic Factors | Very Important | Important | Considered | Not Considered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rigor of secondary school record | X | |||
| Class rank | X | |||
| Academic GPA | X | |||
| Standardized test scores | X | |||
| Application Essay | X | |||
| Recommendation(s) | X |
Key Takeaways for Academic Factors:
Academics carry significant weight at Northwestern
Not all high schools report class rank, so the absence of one won’t automatically hurt you
Top grades in the most demanding courses available at your school are non-negotiable
| Nonacademic Factors | Very Important | Important | Considered | Not Considered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interview | X | |||
| Extracurricular activities | X | |||
| Talent/ability | X | |||
| Character/personal qualities | X | |||
| First generation | X | |||
| Alumni/ae relation | X | |||
| Geographical residence | X | |||
| State residency | X | |||
| Religious affiliation/commitment | X | |||
| Volunteer work | X | |||
| Work experience | X | |||
| Level of applicant’s interest | X |
Key Takeaways for Nonacademic Factors:
Northwestern does pay attention to demonstrated interest
Traits like talent, ability, and personal character are highly subjective
You can’t control factors like legacy status, first-gen background, or geography – but you can control how you spend your time and what you pursue outside the classroom
Some nonacademic criteria are relatively black and white, such as where you live or whether you have alumni relatives. Those elements aren’t things you can change, so there’s no point in overthinking them. Other qualities – “character,” “intellectual curiosity,” or “talent,” for example – are much harder to define. Admissions officers infer these from the full picture: essays, recommendations, patterns of involvement, and the overall tone of your application. There’s no magic formula, but fit with Northwestern absolutely matters. You want your interests, values, and way of thinking to align with the campus culture, so it’s worth asking yourself honestly whether Northwestern is the right place for you before going all-in.
And yes, we’re going to call this out directly: we know from a decade + of experience that extracurriculars are far more than just “important” at Northwestern. How you choose to spend your time outside of class is one of the clearest ways to separate yourself from a sea of qualified applicants. Competitive students aren’t padding resumes with random clubs or chasing leadership titles for optics. They’re committing deeply to a small number of pursuits that connect clearly to their academic interests and future direction. That depth, focus, and intentionality is what stands out – and helping students build those kinds of compelling, differentiated profiles is exactly what we do year after year.
Conclusion
There’s no sugarcoating it: Northwestern is a highly selective school. That part isn’t exactly a revelation. What is useful, though, is having a more concrete sense of what that selectivity actually means when you’re evaluating your own chances and planning your approach.
That said, admissions isn’t a math problem you can solve with a spreadsheet alone. Statistics can show patterns and thresholds, but they don’t fully reflect what Northwestern values as a community – and they definitely don’t tell your story. When we work with students, whether they’re applying Early Decision, coming in through Regular Decision, being recruited, or navigating legacy considerations, our approach is never templated. Strategy starts with the individual: how you think, what excites you, where you’ve invested your time, and where you’re headed. There’s no single formula that guarantees admission to Northwestern, and the students who get in don’t all look the same on paper.
One way to increase your odds? Working with college consultants who are experts in the field and have a high rate of success getting students into Northwestern. We help countless students gain admission to top universities every single year – reach out to us today to get started.